Gratitude
I feel the one of the
things we are not taught is the importance of being grateful. The thing is no
one can teach someone to be grateful. Someone can talk about
gratitude and show other ways they practice being grateful but "being
grateful" is an emotional state of being. How to be an emotion, any
emotion, is a very individual experience. We all feel our emotions in our own
way. Even though we all can Love, we all Love from our past experiences,
which is different from how anyone else has experienced life and
Love.
Even in death we can be
grateful. Anyone at a "Dead" show will see gratitude on levels our
society can find appalling. People dancing and celebrating just the fact they
are alive. Smiling, beaming, twirling with the good ol' Grateful Dead just
giving us the space to be. Most concerts and shows I attend have this same flavor. A space
to remember it is cool to be alive.
Life can be heavy. We
forgot what we had at the show. We remember bills, dead lines, car repairs. How
boring. The thing is just as Jah and Mah are with us at the show they are with
us at the auto machinist, paid job, even the laundromat. We can find that
space. As humans, we have been given this mind that attaches to things to the
exclusion of all else. We define our state of being by what we are attached to
in the moment. Car repair -downer-life sucks. Making Love- bonus- life is great.
As humans we also have the ability, though rarely used, to
see we are attached and make a conscious choice to be in whatever state we
want to be in. This is not superhero stuff but it does take practice and self-love. If the
car needs repairs so be it, why should it affect my day? Why give my energy to something that is
aggravating? When I realize I am being sucked in I ask myself "Do I want
to feel pissed?’ maybe- maybe not but at that moment I can decide. And usually
the more I am Loving Myself that day the less likely I am to pick being pissed
because why would I want someone I love to be pissed?
I look to the Providers
Mah, the feminine creative energy, and Jah the male protective energy of the
universe when I want to say "Thank You.” Now everyone has to find their
own path to what, who and why to be grateful. My experience is when I get
attached to negativity I can rise above it by giving "
Thanks and Praises to Jah/ Mah.” And really there is always more to be
grateful for than not. Look around- feel around. The sun still rises; the
Mother Earth has let mankind have another day upon her (which is an act of
mercy if you look at how we treat her). We can laugh, sing and dance when we
wish- what a blessing! It does not get better than that.
Jah/Mah be Praised!
A quick Video of our planting day Thank You's-
Copyright © 2014 by Joseph aka "hippyjo"